Attorney: More boxes of Saudi-linked records found

Many of the documents are thought to contain information about a Prestancia
home where federal agents have linked phone calls to known 9/11 suspects,
the Bulldog has reported. The calls were made to, or received from, alleged
terrorist ringleader Mohammed Atta and 11 other terrorist suspects, the
Bulldog has reported.ARCHIVE PHOTO

Published: Thursday, May 1, 2014 at 1:00 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 at 11:50 p.m.

A year-and-a-half old quest for full FBI disclosure regarding a Saudi Arabian family that abruptly left Sarasota just weeks before the 9/11 terror attacks took an unexpected turn Wednesday.

Facts

SARASOTA:

Details of FBI investigation into family at crux of disclosure quest

An attorney for the U.S. Justice Department reversed sworn court testimony by stating that the FBI had recently identified four previously unknown boxes of potentially relevant documents.

Previously, in a lawsuit against the agency brought by news organization the Broward Bulldog and its editor, Dan Christensen, it was asserted that only a limited number of documents pertaining to the Saudi family and Sarasota existed.

Attorney Dexter Lee also appeared to countermand a federal judge's order that all known materials -- now 27 boxes of documents -- be delivered to the federal court in Fort Lauderdale by last Friday.

Judge William Zloch ordered the FBI to deliver the documents after granting the agency an extension to comply with a ruling to turn over all relevant materials in the case.

But the Justice Department waited until Wednesday -- five days after that deadline -- to inform the Bulldog's attorney that it intends to deliver the documents to the judge piecemeal, and only after a secure safe is installed in the judge's chambers.

The Bulldog's attorney, Tom Julin, said he received word from Lee via email.

"One can imagine many scenarios that would pose difficulties," said Julin. "They are giving him a safe that only holds four boxes. What they are saying is, once he has notified us that he has reviewed the four, we will take those back and give him a fresh four."

In joining the case in mid-March, the Herald-Tribune and the Miami Herald cited articles written about the family and their home in the Prestancia neighborhood of Sarasota, and how additional information about them would serve the public interest.

To date, the FBI has turned over 35 pages of heavily redacted documents in the lawsuit -- out of tens of thousands of pages it acknowledges were part of its Florida inquiry into the 9/11 attacks.

On April 18, the agency turned over another 27 pages for the judge alone to view -- documents that were determined by the FBI to be exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests and the Bulldog lawsuit.

Many of the documents are thought to contain information about the Prestancia home, which was then owned by Saudi businessman Esam Ghazzawi and his wife, Deborah.

Ghazzawi is known to have connections to the Saudi royal family.

For the six years before 9/11, the home was occupied by their son-in-law, Abdulaziz Al-Hijji, and their daughter, Anoud.

The Al-Hijjis came to the FBI's attention after the couple returned abruptly to Saudi Arabia two weeks before the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., leaving behind clothes, food, children's toys and cars.

Federal agents also linked phone calls from the Prestancia home -- some dating back a year before the attacks -- to known 9/11 suspects, the Bulldog has reported.

The calls were made to, or received from, alleged terrorist ringleader Mohammed Atta and 11 other terrorist suspects, the Bulldog reported.

Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi had learned to fly at the former Huffman Aviation flight school at the Venice Municipal Airport.

<p>A year-and-a-half old quest for full FBI disclosure regarding a Saudi Arabian family that abruptly left Sarasota just weeks before the 9/11 terror attacks took an unexpected turn Wednesday.</p><p>An attorney for the U.S. Justice Department reversed sworn court testimony by stating that the FBI had recently identified four previously unknown boxes of potentially relevant documents.</p><p>Previously, in a lawsuit against the agency brought by news organization the Broward Bulldog and its editor, Dan Christensen, it was asserted that only a limited number of documents pertaining to the Saudi family and Sarasota existed.</p><p>Attorney Dexter Lee also appeared to countermand a federal judge's order that all known materials -- now 27 boxes of documents -- be delivered to the federal court in Fort Lauderdale by last Friday.</p><p>Judge William Zloch ordered the FBI to deliver the documents after granting the agency an extension to comply with a ruling to turn over all relevant materials in the case.</p><p>But the Justice Department waited until Wednesday -- five days after that deadline -- to inform the Bulldog's attorney that it intends to deliver the documents to the judge piecemeal, and only after a secure safe is installed in the judge's chambers.</p><p>The Bulldog's attorney, Tom Julin, said he received word from Lee via email.</p><p>"One can imagine many scenarios that would pose difficulties," said Julin. "They are giving him a safe that only holds four boxes. What they are saying is, once he has notified us that he has reviewed the four, we will take those back and give him a fresh four."</p><p>In joining the case in mid-March, the Herald-Tribune and the Miami Herald cited articles written about the family and their home in the Prestancia neighborhood of Sarasota, and how additional information about them would serve the public interest.</p><p>To date, the FBI has turned over 35 pages of heavily redacted documents in the lawsuit -- out of tens of thousands of pages it acknowledges were part of its Florida inquiry into the 9/11 attacks.</p><p>On April 18, the agency turned over another 27 pages for the judge alone to view -- documents that were determined by the FBI to be exempt from Freedom of Information Act requests and the Bulldog lawsuit.</p><p>Many of the documents are thought to contain information about the Prestancia home, which was then owned by Saudi businessman Esam Ghazzawi and his wife, Deborah.</p><p>Ghazzawi is known to have connections to the Saudi royal family.</p><p>For the six years before 9/11, the home was occupied by their son-in-law, Abdulaziz Al-Hijji, and their daughter, Anoud.</p><p>The Al-Hijjis came to the FBI's attention after the couple returned abruptly to Saudi Arabia two weeks before the attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., leaving behind clothes, food, children's toys and cars.</p><p>Federal agents also linked phone calls from the Prestancia home -- some dating back a year before the attacks -- to known 9/11 suspects, the Bulldog has reported.</p><p>The calls were made to, or received from, alleged terrorist ringleader Mohammed Atta and 11 other terrorist suspects, the Bulldog reported.</p><p>Atta and Marwan al-Shehhi had learned to fly at the former Huffman Aviation flight school at the Venice Municipal Airport.</p><p>Terrorist Ziad Jarrah also took flying lessons nearby, at the Florida Flight Training school.</p><p>Al-Hijji family members have denied any relationship to the terrorists.</p>